Busselton’s old cemetery boasts many great stories

The stories this graveyard could tell.

The Old Busselton cemetery lies within cooee of the famed Busselton Jetty, the southern hemisphere’s longest timber jetty.

The man who was responsible for the supply of that timber lies in the cemetery. Henry Yelverton died in a timber industry accident that led to an in-the-field leg amputation. Read how he died here.

Burials were carried out there from the mid 1800s to the 1930s.

 The cemetery was built on slightly undulating ground, giving it a sense of instability.

Many of the region’s founding fathers are within its fences. It is described as a non-indigeneous cemetery.

Wandering around the burial ground on an overcast day revealed some stories of interest.

Florence Muir received life-taking burns as she was cooking dinner and now rests among the she-oaks at the cemetery. Her story is here.

My favourite gravestone was this below – an incongruous meeting of the old and new. 

In another tale, 14-year-old John Geoghegan was driving home in a sulky with his sister when it hit a stump and overturned. His story is here.

And then there was schoolteacher John Bowler, whose life was going so well, until, suddenly, on a day when he took a simple horse ride, it wasn’t. His story is here.

Sources: City of Busselton, Cemeteries https://www.busselton.wa.gov.au/connect/parks-facilities-and-venues/cemeteries.aspx